Democritus the Thirdhttp://d3mok.net/Science fiction as literature; video games as art; art as politics; programming as poetry.2018-01-30 22:13:26PyRSS2Gen-1.1.0http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rssRIP Ursula K. Le Guinhttp://d3mok.net/94/rip-ursula-k-le-guin<section> <p>&ldquo;We know that there is no help for us but from one another, that no hand will save us if we do not reach942018-01-24 21:17:36German federal election, 2017http://d3mok.net/90/german-federal-election-2017<section> <p><span class="caps small">Dedication</span></p> <p>You whom I could not save Listen to me. <br /> Try to understand this simple speech as I would be902017-09-24 16:10:54What curses doth the law denouncehttp://d3mok.net/89/what-curses-doth-the-law-denounce<section> <blockquote style="font-style:italic"> If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of892017-09-10 10:26:18On the 40th anniversary of the launch of Voyager 2http://d3mok.net/73/on-the-40th-anniversary-of-the-launch-of-voyager-2<section> <p style="text-align: center"> <img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Pale_Blue_Dot.png" style="max-width:100%; margin: 0 auto"> </p> <blockquote>"The present life of man upon earth, oh king, seems to me, in comparison732017-08-20 10:00:00On this day in historyhttp://d3mok.net/88/on-this-day-in-history<section> <blockquote> What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days882017-07-04 11:36:47Now as much as everhttp://d3mok.net/87/now-as-much-as-ever<section> <blockquote> If Margaret Thatcher is re-elected as prime minister on Thursday, I warn you. I warn you that you will have pain &ndash; when872017-06-07 09:06:43Erin Horáková on James T Kirk and masculinityhttp://d3mok.net/85/erin-horakova-on-james-t-kirk-and-masculinity<section> <p>&lsquo;The heterosexism goggles, which derange content via chauvinist interpretive paradigms, become not just inaccurate but horrifying when we look at episodes like “The Gamesters852017-04-28 10:04:51Elvis Presley – &ldquo;Run On&rdquo;http://d3mok.net/76/elvis-presley-run-on-762017-02-14 14:00:07Kate Tempest, &ldquo;Europe is Lost&rdquo;http://d3mok.net/83/kate-tempest-europe-is-lost-832017-02-09 16:34:44Inauguration Day, 2017http://d3mok.net/80/inauguration-day-2017<section> <p>&ldquo;It is not in the interests but in the passions of the Americans that you must seek the causes of ruin that threaten the802017-01-20 10:16:52RIP Carrie Fisherhttp://d3mok.net/79/rip-carrie-fisher<section> <p>&ldquo;No matter how I go, I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra.&rdquo;</p> <p>(<cite class="major">Wishful Drinking</cite>)</p> </section>792016-12-27 20:38:29Gaudetehttp://d3mok.net/78/gaudete782016-12-25 08:00:00The Politics of Star Trekhttp://d3mok.net/72/the-politics-of-star-trek<section> <p>&ldquo;What accounts for this incoherent foreign policy? Nothing less than Picard’s commitment to non-commitment. He represents a new, non-judgmental liberalism far shallower than that722016-09-08 09:02:38Ennio Morricone, &ldquo;Sixty Seconds to What?&rdquo;http://d3mok.net/70/ennio-morricone-sixty-seconds-to-what-702016-08-11 09:07:33On the occasion of the report of the Iraq Inquiryhttp://d3mok.net/68/on-the-occasion-of-the-report-of-the-iraq-inquiry<section> <p><img src="http://static.d3mok.net/blog/130314211048-14-iraq-war-horizontal-large-gallery.jpg" style="width:100%" /></p> <blockquote><em> Delivered by the commander of the Athenian forces at the state funeral marking the end of the first year682016-07-06 10:00:00&ldquo;This land is not the sweet home that it looks&rdquo;http://d3mok.net/67/-this-land-is-not-the-sweet-home-that-it-looks-<section> <h1>In Praise of Limestone</h1> <p>If it form the one landscape that we, the inconstant ones, Are consistently homesick for, this is chiefly Because it672016-06-29 08:49:20&ldquo;The killers were probably young men&rdquo;http://d3mok.net/66/-the-killers-were-probably-young-men-<section> <p>&ldquo;In Solingen brannte ein Haus, Frauen und Kinder verbrannten. Betroffenheitsadressen wurden abgegeben. Ratlosigkeit herrschte vor. Wahrscheinlich waren die Mörder Jugendliche. Sie haben ihren Hass662016-06-13 11:17:53RIP Jenny Diskihttp://d3mok.net/65/rip-jenny-diski<section> <p>&ldquo;Under no circumstances is anyone to say that I lost a battle with cancer, or that I bore it bravely. I am not fighting,652016-04-28 13:50:30Sweet Pussy Pauline, &ldquo;Work This Pussy&rdquo; (a cappella)http://d3mok.net/64/sweet-pussy-pauline-work-this-pussy-a-cappella-642016-04-05 18:54:28RIP Nikolaus Harnoncourthttp://d3mok.net/60/rip-nikolaus-harnoncourt<section> <p><span class="loanword">Doch haltet ein! Der Schall darf sich nicht weit entfernen Es naht sich selbst zu euch, der Herr der Herrlichkeit!</span></p> <p>(Play the video602016-03-07 12:27:07Stan Rogers, &ldquo;White Collar Holler&rdquo;http://d3mok.net/59/stan-rogers-white-collar-holler-592016-02-05 09:00:00They make a desert and call it a gamehttp://d3mok.net/57/they-make-a-desert-and-call-it-a-game<section> <p>There are games we love, and there are games we <em>want</em> to love. The former category are all those games we were sucked into572016-01-27 10:00:00RIP Marvin Minskyhttp://d3mok.net/58/rip-marvin-minsky<section> <p>&ldquo;When intelligent machines are constructed, we should not be surprised to find them as confused and as stubborn as men in their convictions about582016-01-26 09:55:01Do we not all feel the tug of some distant, eccentric perturber?http://d3mok.net/56/do-we-not-all-feel-the-tug-of-some-distant-eccentric-perturber-<section> <p>“On the day before the press announcement on Planet Nine, Laughlin told me that he was feeling nervous. “I’m worried whether it’s out there,”562016-01-21 11:10:39&ldquo;Christmas is now drawing near at hand&rdquo;http://d3mok.net/54/-christmas-is-now-drawing-near-at-hand-542015-12-17 16:22:35A poetic meditation on some regions of Germanyhttp://d3mok.net/53/a-poetic-meditation-on-some-regions-of-germany<section> <h1>1</h1> <p>Rural and milquetoast, unprepossesin&rsquo; &mdash; that&rsquo;s Hessen.</p> <h1>2</h1> <p>By the end of his youth, every last Swede has been to Berlin.</p> <h1>3</h1> <p>Fleischfabriken,532015-12-11 08:11:55A new translation of the Little Catechism of Dr. Martin Lutherhttp://d3mok.net/52/a-new-translation-of-the-little-catechism-of-dr-martin-luther<section> <p>When the story broke about <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlUXh4mx4gI">an advert featuring the Lord&rsquo;s Prayer</a> being <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/22/cinema-chains-ban-advert-featuring-lords-prayer">rejected by the two chains that control 80% of the522015-11-23 12:22:08An oral history of the Nintendo &ldquo;Game Counselors&rdquo;http://d3mok.net/51/an-oral-history-of-the-nintendo-game-counselors-<section> <p>&ldquo;They rented every limo in western Washington. They thought they’d get around it by having the party on a Sunday night, which always kind512015-11-22 12:12:50These violent delightshttp://d3mok.net/50/these-violent-delights<section> <p>Like so many of the much-hyped AAA classics of recent years, IAC&rsquo;s 2012 game <cite class="major">Tinder</cite> is not so much an innovation as it502015-11-02 17:05:06Fear and Loathing in Utopiahttp://d3mok.net/49/fear-and-loathing-in-utopia<section> <style type="text/css"> table.ps, { display: block; width: 100%; margin: 0!important; padding: 0; box-sizing:border-box; } table.ps td { vertical-align:top; padding-right: 1em; } table.ps td:first-child {492015-10-02 11:09:46A Drug Dealer in Mantuahttp://d3mok.net/21/a-drug-dealer-in-mantua<section> <p>There’s something about his person that suggests he is waiting to die. Perhaps he is not aware that he is, specifically, waiting; by now,212015-05-22 15:55:59&ldquo;Napoleon Crossing the Rhine&rdquo;http://d3mok.net/30/-napoleon-crossing-the-rhine-302015-05-17 21:43:00The Further Adventures of Professor Spacetimehttp://d3mok.net/20/the-further-adventures-of-professor-spacetime<section> <style type="text/css"> table.ps, h3.ps, p.ps { display: block; width: 100%; margin: 0!important; padding: 0; box-sizing:border-box; } table.ps td { vertical-align:top; padding-right: 1em; } table.ps202015-05-12 08:00:00&lsquo;Banned by the land of their birth / Rhine refused them’http://d3mok.net/31/-banned-by-the-land-of-their-birth-rhine-refused-them-<section> <p><em>To the happy memory of 800 African refugees, exiles by the Schengen laws, drowned between midnight and morning of April 19th, 2015.</em></p> <blockquote style="white-space:312015-04-22 15:10:00RIP Terry Pratchetthttp://d3mok.net/22/rip-terry-pratchett<section> <p>“She heard him mutter, ‘Can you take away this grief?’</p> <p>&lsquo;I’m sorry,’ she replied. &lsquo;Everyone asks me. And I would not do so even222015-03-12 16:08:12The Naming of the Starshttp://d3mok.net/48/the-naming-of-the-stars<section> <p>Memorandum of the Contact and Cultural Exchange to the settlement Iparaha: General Sciences divsion From: Dr Renée ISHIKAWA, University of New Berlin (department of482015-01-17 15:31:42There is no such thing as Americahttp://d3mok.net/15/there-is-no-such-thing-as-america<section> <p>Let me tell you the story of a man I once met, a man who told me a story. As I said to him152014-12-08 11:22:55Ithaca and Durotarhttp://d3mok.net/32/ithaca-and-durotar<section> <p>The last time I found myself back in Nashville, in the back of my mind, the whole time, I knew what I really wanted322014-11-24 08:00:00The Simple Art of Murderhttp://d3mok.net/12/the-simple-art-of-murder<section> <p>I need to lampshade something at the beginning. Here at <cite class="major">Democritus the Third</cite>, we review every video game, consciously or un, by comparing122014-10-22 15:13:32Journal of Incendiary Article Titleshttp://d3mok.net/28/journal-of-incendiary-article-titles<section> <p><cite class="minor">Sublime Propaganda: Beauty and the Exhortation to Kill in ‘Palästinalied’ and &lsquo;The Battle Hymn of the Republic.’</cite> (2014) II, 77-94.</p> </section>282014-10-05 08:00:00Tag Der Deutschen Einheit: <cite class="minor">Kinderhymne</cite>http://d3mok.net/29/tag-der-deutschen-einheit-kinderhymne-<section> <p>Anmut sparet nicht noch Mühe Leidenschaft nicht noch Verstand Dass ein gutes Deutschland blühe Wie ein andres gutes Land.</p> <p>Dass die Völker nicht erbleichen292014-10-03 12:45:22Martina McBride, <cite class="minor">Independence Day</cite>http://d3mok.net/33/martina-mcbride-independence-day-332014-07-04 08:00:00RIP Pete Seegerhttp://d3mok.net/39/rip-pete-seeger<section> <p>“Some may find them merely diverting melodies. Others may find them incitements to Red revolution. And who will say if either or both is392014-01-28 08:00:00Journal of Incendiary Article Titleshttp://d3mok.net/34/journal-of-incendiary-article-titles<section> <p>“Flashing and Flashes: Perspective and composition in photographs of the primary sexual organs uploaded onto dating websites targeted at the gay community between 1997342013-12-17 08:00:00Precepts of the Hyper Hexagonisthttp://d3mok.net/27/precepts-of-the-hyper-hexagonist<section> <p>The player experiences <cite class="major">Super Hexagon</cite> as a series of errors that separates them from contact with perfection. At the moment of failure, the272013-12-05 16:22:00Soldaten sind Mörderhttp://d3mok.net/35/soldaten-sind-morder<section> <p>“Da gab es vier Jahre lang ganze Quadratmeilen Landes, auf denen war der Mord obligatorisch, während er eine halbe Stunde davon entfernt ebenso streng352013-11-11 08:00:00Journal of Incendiary Article Titleshttp://d3mok.net/36/journal-of-incendiary-article-titles<section> <p>“From Duckface to Duck Sauce: Racism and self-representation in online dating profiles.” (2013) I, 33 &ndash; 47</p> </section>362013-10-24 08:00:00&ldquo;Seht — wohin? — auf unsere Schuld&rdquo;http://d3mok.net/37/-seht-wohin-auf-unsere-schuld-<section> <p>Johann Sebastian Bach, <cite class="major">The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Saint Matthew</cite> (BWV 244)</p> <p>Dating in its received form from the372013-10-23 08:00:00On the occasion of the first Human spacecraft exiting the Solar Systemhttp://d3mok.net/38/on-the-occasion-of-the-first-human-spacecraft-exiting-the-solar-system<section> <p><em><cite class="minor">Gavotte en Rondeau</cite> from BWV 1006, <cite class="major">Partita No. 3 in E</cite>, one of Carl Sagan’s musical selections for the Voyager Golden Record</em></p>382013-09-16 08:00:00Blind Willie Johnson, “Dark was the night, cold was the ground”http://d3mok.net/25/blind-willie-johnson-dark-was-the-night-cold-was-the-ground-252013-08-16 08:00:00Nina Simone, <cite class="minor">Sinnerman</cite>http://d3mok.net/40/nina-simone-sinnerman-402013-08-13 08:00:00Ways in which a game of <cite class="major">Super Hexagon</cite> is like a human lifehttp://d3mok.net/13/ways-in-which-a-game-of-super-hexagon-is-like-a-human-life<section> <ol><li>It is difficult, brief, and ends in death.</li> <li>No matter how good you are at it, death is the only possible ending.</li> <li>Immediately after132013-08-07 15:23:00Robert Watson, <cite class="minor">The Greeter</cite>http://d3mok.net/41/robert-watson-the-greeter-<section> <p>He’s not the Reaper, but he does stop by To say to everything that’s ever lived, “Nice try.”</p> </section>412013-07-21 08:00:00Open My Countryhttp://d3mok.net/14/open-my-country<section> <blockquote>“…in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the142013-07-06 15:31:06Let the Atrocious Images Haunt Ushttp://d3mok.net/44/let-the-atrocious-images-haunt-us<section> <p><a href="//static.d3mok.net/blog/rana.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="//static.d3mok.net/blog/rana.jpg" style="width:100%"> <span style="font-family: Equity Caps; text-transform: lowercase;">Two bodies in the rubble of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on442013-05-18 08:00:00We still dance on whirling stageshttp://d3mok.net/43/we-still-dance-on-whirling-stages<section> <blockquote>Then the lights came on, it was all a scene<br>Bend back, give head it’s not pornography<br>If you do it with lights then it’s art432013-05-12 20:00:00Juxtaposition: Hopkins, Newsomhttp://d3mok.net/45/juxtaposition-hopkins-newsom<section> <p>JOANNA NEWSOM, “ONLY SKIN” (excerpt)</p> <p>But I took my fishingpole (fearing your fever) Down to the swimminghole, where there grows bitter herb That blooms452013-04-26 08:00:00Happy Birthday J Robert Oppenheimerhttp://d3mok.net/42/happy-birthday-j-robert-oppenheimer<section> <p>“In some sort of crude sense, which no vulgarity, no humor, no overstatement can quite extinguish, the physicists have known sin; and this is422013-04-22 08:00:00Tina Turner, <cite class="minor">Proud Mary</cite>http://d3mok.net/47/tina-turner-proud-mary-<section> <p>“Okay, thank you very much. Right now, I think you might like to hear something from us nice and easy. I’d like to do472013-03-02 08:00:00Con Los Terroristashttp://d3mok.net/16/con-los-terroristas<section> <p>The first thing you notice is the music. The vocal call out (‘with the terrorists’, the internet translates it as) and the steady beat.162013-02-20 22:54:16Friedrich Hölderlin, “Brod und Wein”http://d3mok.net/46/friedrich-holderlin-brod-und-wein-<section> <h2>2.</h2> <p>Night is a perfectly put-together bitch. Can never tell where she’s going or what she’s gonna get up to. But we’ll all follow462013-02-14 08:00:00In the driver&rsquo;s seathttp://d3mok.net/17/in-the-driver-s-seat<section> <p><a href="http://static.d3mok.net/blog/mass-effect/cr.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://static.d3mok.net/blog/mass-effect/cr.jpg" style="width: 100%" /></a></p> <p>Unlike the the leash-led RPGs and adventure games that predated it, Mass Effect was about letting you172013-01-25 10:00:00Shai-Hulud; Planned Parenthoodhttp://d3mok.net/26/shai-hulud-planned-parenthood<section> <p>I was once at a conference at the Free University of Berlin at which the Cambridge classicist Simon Goldhill was speaking about interdisciplinary work262012-12-30 18:59:00Political Questionshttp://d3mok.net/19/political-questions<section> <p>Bonfire Night has come and gone, although no doubt you will still hear the crackle of leftover fireworks being shot off for the rest192012-11-06 11:27:00RIP Neil Armstronghttp://d3mok.net/23/rip-neil-armstrong<section> <p>“Provide ship or sails adapted to the heavenly breezes, and there will be some who will not fear even that void….”</p> <p>(Johannes Kepler, letter232012-08-25 20:47:00Until We Came to Hobbitgradhttp://d3mok.net/10/until-we-came-to-hobbitgrad<section> <p>The <cite class="major">Lord of the Rings</cite> is ‘long and boring; no one can lift the damn thing’. As a child, your parents read you102012-08-04 09:40:02Playing <cite class="major">English Country Tune</cite>http://d3mok.net/11/playing-english-country-tune-<section> <blockquote>The larvae are weightless. They simulate gravity as a camouflage technique.</blockquote> <blockquote>&mdash; <cite class="major">English Country Tune</cite></blockquote> <blockquote>If I could go back in time, I112012-08-01 15:13:00RIP Gore Vidalhttp://d3mok.net/18/rip-gore-vidal<section> <p>&ldquo;I am at heart a propagandist, a tremendous hater, a tiresome nag, complacently positive that there is no human problem which could not be182012-08-01 12:07:00<cite class="minor">And did those feet in ancient time</cite>http://d3mok.net/9/-and-did-those-feet-in-ancient-time-<section> <p>And did those feet in ancient time. Walk upon England’s mountains green: And was the holy Lamb of God, On England’s pleasant pastures seen!</p>92012-07-30 19:39:00The Magnetic Fields, “The Desperate Things You Made Me Do”http://d3mok.net/24/the-magnetic-fields-the-desperate-things-you-made-me-do-242012-07-24 08:00:00The Essential Unreality of Star Trekhttp://d3mok.net/8/the-essential-unreality-of-star-trek<section> <p>One of the features of <cite class="major">Star Trek</cite> that I have always found most striking is the show’s essential unreality. I don’t mean the82012-07-22 02:20:00John Cage, 4&prime;33&Prime; (Death Metal cover)http://d3mok.net/7/john-cage-4-prime-33-prime-death-metal-cover-72012-07-17 01:18:00